


the things you never said

by shewasthewind



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, M/M, Teenagers, also byeler is mentioned for like half a second, everyone except Dustin and Lucas is just mentioned, so not really that aged up but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-16 05:37:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17543705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewasthewind/pseuds/shewasthewind
Summary: Dustin and Lucas have grown apart, but they got another chance with each other.





	the things you never said

Parties weren’t Dustin’s thing at all, which was ironic considering he was part of the party. He laughed a little at that one, stumbling up the stairs at god-knows-whose house at some stupid party he hadn’t wanted to attend in the first place. There was an open door and the end of the hall and Dustin walked in, collapsing on the bed with his head buried in the pillows. The sole reason he’d even come here was because Max had forced him, and that was just because she seemed to know everything. She knew the real reason Dustin had let himself be swayed into attending, even though he could barely admit it to himself. He so, so wished that it were literally anything else, but he couldn’t help it. 

Wallowing in his own self pity, he didn’t notice when a couple staggered into the room, wrapped in each other’s arms. But when he felt the other side of the bed dip, he jumped up, looking around guiltily and scratching his neck. “Uh, I um, sorry,” he stammered, trying to apologize. “I’ll just leave you two to, uh, that.” The boy on the bed stared questioningly at him, the look in his eyes clearly saying Dude, get out. “S-sorry,” Dustin said again for good measure, before he fled out of the room. He slammed the door closed, leaning against it and sighing. There was literally nowhere else to go, and he really wasn’t in the mood to see more people sucking face downstairs. So, he did the only logical thing he could think of (which wasn’t really logical at all), and climbed out and up onto the roof. 

There was something about being on a roof all alone with a party raging downstairs that was calming. To Dustin, it felt like he was in his own protective bubble where no one could touch him, but he still wasn’t alone. The music drifted up from the open windows, and he found himself tapping his foot to the beat, lost in thought. 

So lost in thought, in fact, that he didn’t notice another boy scrambling up through the window to sit beside him until he felt a slight nudge against his knee. Dustin looked up, startled, his heart instinctively leaping into his throat. Lucas.

“Oh, uh, hey,” he managed to mumble out, mentally scolding himself. _It’s just Lucas, get your head out of your ass. He’s your best friend. Well, not really, not anymore, but he’s still a friend._

“Hey Dusty,” Lucas greeted, shooting the smaller boy an easy smile. “Did I scare you?”

“No, of course not,” he grumbled, swatting the other boy’s shoulder, while simultaneously blushing at the nickname. “You’re not nearly intimidating enough for that.”

“Oh, really?” The dark-haired boy raised his eyebrows, scooting closer to Dustin, and unknowingly almost causing him to have a heart attack. “Remember that time in eighth grade when we were playing hide and seek, and when I came up behind you, you literally threw your walkie talkie at me? If that doesn’t mean I’m intimidating, I don’t know what else to tell you,” he teased, his eyes scanning the other boy’s face.

“Okay, first of all, we were thirteen, Lucas. _Thirteen,_ ” he said, his voice turning indignant. “And if I remember correctly, you still have a scar from that incident, so I definitely won that round.” Dustin grinned at the recollection, pushing away the part of the memory where he had told himself Lucas would hate him forever after that, despite the boy repeatedly assuring he was fine. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Lucas scoffed, shaking his head affectionately. “But you’re right, the scar is still there.” He reached up, pointing to it. “Well, you probably can’t see it in the dark.”

Dustin squinted, shifting closer to the other boy until he saw the small mark. “Well, I guess I just needed to get closer,” he chuckled softly, impulsively reaching out to trace it. 

“Yeah, kinda like we used to be,” the taller boy mumbled, leaning into Dustin’s touch with his eyes closed. 

The curly-haired boy frowned, moving his hand away. He knew what Lucas was saying was true, but he really didn’t want to talk about that right now. Especially when it felt like they were having a moment again, for the first time in months. Well, he didn’t really know what would qualify as a “moment”, but the times where he and Lucas seemed to effortlessly fit together seemed to happen a lot less nowadays, and that was probably on the account of the other boy not being around as often as he used to be. 

Dustin bit his lip, hesitating, before opening his mouth to speak. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, having decided that playing dumb would be the best route to go.

Lucas tilted his head up, searching Dustin’s eyes with his own. “Aw, come on Dust. We both know it,” he said, chuckling humorlessly. “I mean, yeah, it’s my fault, but I know you’ve noticed.”

The shorter boy gulped, tearing his eyes away from Lucas’. He knew that despite them not hanging out much recently, the other boy could still read him like an open book. He’d always been able to. “Uh, um, it’s not your fault,” he managed to say. That technically wasn’t a lie, at least not from Dustin’s perspective, because he would rather give up pudding for a week than place all the blame on Lucas. But he also knew that he’d been mad for a while when the other boy had missed the first hangout at Mike’s place. Dustin had refused to speak to him for a week until he had finally broken down and told Max everything. First she’d hugged him, and then she’d forced him to at least try to act normal if he didn’t want everyone to know.

Normally, it would’ve been Mike who would’ve tried to fix things, but lately, the paladin had been a little distracted. And this time it wasn’t just the usual things; it was Will. The boys being together was a fairly new development, and Dustin was happy for them, he really was, but he felt like it had created another slight rift in the party, and he missed the way that things used to be. He shook his head, pushing thought away, and trying to ignore how it made his heart ache. 

Lucas had been watching Dustin, whose mind seemed to be somewhere else, and he tapped the boy’s thigh to get his attention. “It’s basically my fault. And I’m sorry about it,’ he apologized, hoping the other boy would understand what he really meant. 

“Really, it’s fine Luke,” Dustin lied, trying to ignore the boy’s hand on his leg. “I get it. People grow apart. And move on, you know.”

“No, but, I didn’t. I mean, I’m still me,” Lucas protested, biting his lip. 

Dustin sighed, warning himself to calm down and not say anything he would regret. “Well, not like I would know that, considering I never see you anymore anyways.” He bit his lip, immediately looking down at his lap. _Dammit, Dustin. You really just can’t keep your mouth shut, can you?_

Lucas’ face changed, and he frowned at the other boy. “And, there it is,” he said quietly, shaking his head. 

“And there’s what? Have you been waiting for this? For me to call you out on your shit or something? Or did you just come up here to mess with me? Was it a dare from one of your new friends?” Dustin snapped, lifting his head up to meet Lucas’ eyes. He was dimly aware that he was being unfair right now, but it was the only way he really knew how to handle his emotions. Lucas couldn’t just come up here, being all sweet and shit, then suddenly bring up the topic of their weakening friendship, and expect Dustin not to be hurt. 

“I- Dustin, I’m sorry. I miss you,” Lucas whispered, his voice cracking. 

“Oh, you miss us?” Dustin scoffed. “That’s rich. You could come back anytime you want. What’s even stopping you?”

“You are.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Dustin asked incredulously. 

Lucas shrugged, looking down at his knees. “When I missed that DnD game at Mike’s, you didn’t talk to me for a week. Did you really think I didn’t notice?”

Dustin swallowed guiltily, willing himself to calm down, but it was all in vain. “And why the hell do you think I was ignoring you? It’s because that was a shitty thing to do!” he said loudly, his voice verging dangerously on yelling territory.

“Yeah, I’m aware of that and I acknowledged it,” Lucas spat. “Did you not hear me say I was sorry?”

Dustin’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward, so that they were almost forehead to forehead. 

“Yes, I fucking heard you, but saying sorry doesn’t change anything, Lucas!”

“Then what the hell do you want me to do?” Lucas growled, reaching out for Dustin’s shirt and pulling him closer.

“Maybe you should figure that out, since you’re the one who got us into this damn mess in the first place,” he said angrily, while simultaneously trying not to blush at Lucas grabbing his shirt. _This is so not the time,_ he scolded himself. 

“Tell me what you fucking want Dustin.”

Lucas’ eyes flitted across Dustin’s face, observing the boy closely. It had been a while since he’d been able to be this close to the smaller boy, and even though they were fighting at the moment, he couldn’t say he was mad at their proximity.

“Well right now, what I want is for you to shut the fuck up,” Dustin answered.

“I want you to shut the fuck up too,” Lucas retorted, tightening his grip on Dustin’s shirt. 

“Then make me, you asshole,” said Dustin through gritted teeth. 

Lucas raised his eyebrows at that, finally allowing his eyes to travel down do Dustin’s lips. _Does he mean …? No, he can’t mean that. Fuck it,_ he thought, yanking the curly-haired boy closer to himself. “If you say so,” he whispered, his breath ghosting over Dustin’s mouth, before he leaned forward and connected their lips roughly. 

As soon as their lips touched, Dustin’s brain turned to mush. _Holy fucking shit,_ he thought, instinctively placing his arms around Lucas’ neck. He pushed himself impossibly closer to the other boy, almost on his lap by now. 

Lucas gasped at Dustin’s reaction, trying his best to deepen the kiss, which could best be described as sloppy. But when he felt the smaller boy’s hand move up to his hair, he was jolted back to reality. He opened his eyes, pulling away from Dustin. “Fuck, sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. 

Dustin looked up at the other boy, slightly dazed. “What? Uh, no, why are you sorry?”

Lucas finally let go of Dustin’s shirt, running a hand through his own hair and shaking his head. “That, uh, that was a mistake.”

Dustin nodded slowly, pulling his hands away from the other boy as if he’d been burned. “Oh, yeah, okay,” he said, hoping the disappointment in his voice wasn’t obvious. _Of course it was a mistake, he thought, mentally kicking himself. Why would Lucas of all people want anything to do with me, let alone kiss me?_

He got up as fast as he could without being in danger of falling off the roof, brushing off his pants with his hands and pointedly not looking up at Lucas. “Yeah, um, I’m just gonna go.” 

“No, Dustin, wait,” he called desperately, biting his lip. Lucas knew that he wanted him to stay, and he also knew perfectly well that the kiss hadn’t been a mistake (after all, he’d wanted to kiss Dustin since before he knew what kissing meant), but he didn’t know how to express that without scaring the other boy off. 

Dustin turned, one of his legs already halfway through the window. “What?” he asked, his eyebrows raised. 

A part of him was hoping that Lucas would say something to make it all better, because he’d always been so good at that.

But the dark-haired boy just looked at him, the words stuck in his throat. _I love you,_ he thought with a sinking feeling. _So much._

Dustin stared at him for a moment, silently pleading him to say something, anything, but it was pointless. “Bye Lucas,” he sighed, finally turning away and pulling himself through the window.

Lucas swallowed as he helplessly watched him go, the words he couldn’t say left hanging in the thick summer air.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first fic, and although I'm not completely satisfied with it, I'm glad that I finally got something out there.
> 
> And thank you to El (@TrashmouthTM) and Liky (@castrateyourhumanpride) for proofreading.


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